In a major turnaround, One Rank One Pension (OROP) leaders have decided to support and canvass for the Congress in the Indian states of Punjab and Uttarakhand. Both these states send substantial numbers to the Indian armed forces. The decision has come in the wake of unhappiness expressed by the OROP leaders on the package which was given out by the Centre last year.

Since then, OROP leaders have been sitting on a relay hunger strike pressing the Centre to change the OROP package. The open support is not without significance.&nbsp;

One Rank One Pension (OROP) is a pension reforms movement for Indian armed forces personnel.

OROP was an issue during 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and Narendra Modi&rsquo;s rally in Rewari in 2014 was organised by the ex-servicemen. So the open support and participation of the ex-servicemen will have a direct impact on the assembly election in both states which are going to polls on&nbsp;February 4.

The OROP leaders shared an open dais with the former chief minister of Punjab&nbsp;Amrindar Singh, Uttarakhand&rsquo;s chief minister Harish Rawat, and Veer Bhadra Singh, the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh.&nbsp;

Amrindar Singh said that they support the demand of the OROP and would like Centre to restore parity of the ranking of the armed forces members with their civilian counterparts. The resolution of the ex-servicemen was also accepted by the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee with the guarantee that all 21 recommendations will be accepted once Congress is in power in the state.

The Congress also committed itself to ensure pay parity between defence forces and class A civil servants. Congress also said that they would implement the Koshiari Committee report of 2013 in the light of suggestions made by the OROP members.&nbsp;

The Congress also said that they would be nominating more members of ex-servicemen to Rajya Sabha and the properties of serving and ex-soldiers would be brought under the provision of NRI property act.

Randeep Surjewalan, chairman of the Congress Media Cell, told WION that Congress as a party stands committed to the demand of OROP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should deliver what the soldiers want.&nbsp;

Until last year,&nbsp;OROP, despite fighting with the government, remained hostile towards the Congress. Even Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi&rsquo;s sojourn to Jantar Mantar to meet ex-servicemen wasn&rsquo;t a smooth experience as many shouted slogans against him.

(WION)

The pension reforms movement for Indian armed forces personnel has been a contentious political issue for years

In a major turnaround, One Rank One Pension (OROP) leaders have decided to support and canvass for the Congress in the Indian states of Punjab and Uttarakhand. Both these states send substantial numbers to the Indian armed forces. The decision has come in the wake of unhappiness expressed by the OROP leaders on the package which was given out by the Centre last year. Since then, OROP leaders have been sitting on a relay hunger strike pressing the Centre to change the OROP package. The open support is not without significance. One Rank One Pension (OROP) is a pension reforms movement for Indian armed forces personnel. OROP was an issue during 2014 Lok Sabha elections, and Narendra Modi’s rally in Rewari in 2014 was organised by the ex-servicemen. So the open support and participation of the ex-servicemen will have a direct impact on the assembly election in both states which are going to polls on February 4. The OROP leaders shared an open dais with the former chief minister of Punjab Amrindar Singh, Uttarakhand’s chief minister Harish Rawat, and Veer Bhadra Singh, the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh. Amrindar Singh said that they support the demand of the OROP and would like Centre to restore parity of the ranking of the armed forces members with their civilian counterparts. The resolution of the ex-servicemen was also accepted by the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee with the guarantee that all 21 recommendations will be accepted once Congress is in power in the state. The Congress also committed itself to ensure pay parity between defence forces and class A civil servants. Congress also said that they would implement the Koshiari Committee report of 2013 in the light of suggestions made by the OROP members. The Congress also said that they would be nominating more members of ex-servicemen to Rajya Sabha and the properties of serving and ex-soldiers would be brought under the provision of NRI property act. Randeep Surjewalan, chairman of the Congress Media Cell, told WION that Congress as a party stands committed to the demand of OROP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi should deliver what the soldiers want. Until last year, OROP, despite fighting with the government, remained hostile towards the Congress. Even Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi’s sojourn to Jantar Mantar to meet ex-servicemen wasn’t a smooth experience as many shouted slogans against him. (WION)

OROP leaders to support Congress in poll-bound Indian states

The killing of a militant commander by the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir four months ago led to a curfew in the Valley and a spurt of hatred towards the Indian armed forces in the region. The violence that ensued once again put to fore the &ldquo;Kashmir issue&rdquo;, India&rsquo;s bone of contention with Pakistan.

The attack by militants on an army base in the region&rsquo;s Uri sector resulted in a scaled-up cross-border shelling, leading to Indian Army&#39;s &ldquo;surgical strikes&rdquo; in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

The sentiment against the Indian defence and armed forces was cast aside by a sudden &ldquo;patriotic&rdquo; fervour in their support. But while the nation was busy judging&nbsp;patriotism based on whether one backed the move by the Indian Army or was against it, and hailed the personnel killed in Uri as &ldquo;martyrs&rdquo; and &ldquo;bravehearts&rdquo;, the recent suicide of an ex-army soldier over the demand for One Rank One Pension (OROP) has yet again fuelled the love-hate relationship India has with its forces.

What is One Rank One Pension?

Last year, army veterans took to the streets, organised massive protests and hunger strikes in the national capital. They were calling for One Rank One Pension. Simply put, they demanded the same pension for the same rank and the same length of service.

Major General (retd) Satbir Singh, who was among those spearheading the protests, explains: &ldquo;Look at it this way. A colonel retiring in 1980s draws lesser pension than one retiring in 2014. Both have retired on the same rank and have served for the same number of years. The only difference is the latter has seen several pay reviews.&rdquo;

Following the protests, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the One Rank One Pension scheme on September 6, 2015 but the ex-serviceman said that it did not address their concerns and called it a &ldquo;diluted&rdquo; version.

Close to 2,000 medals were collected in a &ldquo;Medal Wapsi&rdquo; drive and given to the collector&rsquo;s office in the national capital on the 149th day of protest.

The OROP was implemented after 40 years, yet protests continue.

In a statement given last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the first installment of Rs 5,500 ($82) was paid towards OROP. So why are the ex-servicemen still unhappy?

&ldquo;What has been implemented is not the actual OROP. It is at best an enhancement of the pension system. It is one rank five pensions and not one pension. The anomalies still hold;&nbsp;senior personnel will get lesser pension than their juniors. This kind of a system is legally wrong, unfair and constitutionally unacceptable. It&rsquo;s authoritarian,&rdquo; says Singh.

The government said that the scheme is effective July 1, 2014, with 2013 as the base year, but ex-servicemen demand OROP from April 1, 2014 and 2015 as the base year. The government called for a review every five years, but the veterans demand an annual review.

However, what has angered veterans the most is&nbsp;the proposal by the government to keep those who took &ldquo;voluntary retirement&rdquo; out of the scheme.

&ldquo;A good 40 per cent of our serviceman retire early because the army demands a young force. Other countries like the&nbsp;US, Ukraine have acts for the defence services where the post-retirement needs of soldiers are taken care of. In India, most of those who join the army are from the villages. They get deployed for about 23 to 25 years and then are sent back to fend for themselves. They start farming or become security guards. If this is not arrogance and apathy towards the Indian soldier, what is it? We don&rsquo;t protest for money but for justice and respect,&rdquo;&nbsp;says&nbsp;Singh.

A serving Indian Air Force officer, not wanting to be named, says that the &quot;political mileage parties try to gain&rdquo; and &ldquo;the government&rsquo;s favouritism to bureaucracy&rdquo; is the reason behind the skewed pension system.

&ldquo;Much politics has been done around OROP. Sonia Gandhi favoured the demand but it was not implemented in the 12 years her party was in power. Same is with Narendra Modi, who promised OROP when he was campaigning to be prime minister. But under his government veterans were on the streets, demanding their rights. Everyone wants to keep bureaucrats thriving and defence under their thumb,&rdquo; he says referring to the 1973 decision to increase the pension of civilian government employees from 33 per cent to 50 per cent and decrease that of the armed forces from 70 per cent to 50 per cent of the last pay drawn.

There are other armed forces too

The demand for OROP has also been raised by the paramilitary forces. But unlike India&#39;s army, navy and air force, these forces that include the Central Reserve Police force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF) the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force(CISF) and the Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) were denied pension from &nbsp;2004 and get a contributory pension instead.

There are over 1,300,000&nbsp;paramiltary personnel&nbsp;embroiled in a larger debate.&nbsp;The government fails to recognise them as &ldquo;armed force&rdquo; and calls them &ldquo;armed police forces&rdquo;, and thus they do not receive several post-retirement benefits that the defence forces receive. There is also refusal to list these forces under the group of &ldquo;organised forces&rdquo;, a case set to be heard in India&#39;s Supreme Court in January 2017.

&ldquo;We were always referred to as the paramilitary forces. The change in nomenclature done by the previous home minister P Chidambaram by passing an overnight rule is unconstitutional. As per article 246 of the Indian Constitution, our genesis is the same as that of the defence forces. The individual acts of paramilitary forces also prove our armed forces status. These are all acts in the constitution and a rule cannot surpass an act. The police is state subject and we are listed under the union,&rdquo; says inspector-general (retd) of CRPF and chairman of National Coordination Committee of Ex-Central Paramilitary Forces Personnel Welfare Association, VPS Panwar.

The paramilitary forces do not receive special pensions like the Military Service Pay&nbsp;given to the army for conditions serving in adverse conditions.

&ldquo;The BSF and ITBP are deployed in border areas with army cut-off from family and a social life in difficult terrain but while the army has perks of a military service pay, BSF and ITBP don&rsquo;t,&rdquo; says Panwar.

According to data provided by the National Coordination Committee of Ex-Central Paramilitary Forces Personnel Welfare Association, from the year 2009 to 2014, a total of 6,342 personnel have died in deaths attributable to working conditions, which includes 447 cases of suicide and 57 killed in cases of fratricide.

Though they have their own cadre, these forces are headed by Indian Police Services (IPS) officers. Many ex-paramilitary personnel say that the IPS officers fail to project the grievances of the forces they command and cite bureaucratic intervention as a problem.

According to data, in the last decade, 940 paramilitary personnel have been killed in action while 7,475 have received severe injuries.

&ldquo;The central paramilitary forces should be granted the status and benefits of ex-servicemen, martyrs and war widows, which is currently denied. We fight the enemy from within and on borders, our call of duty should not be overlooked.&rdquo;&nbsp;says Panwar.

(WION)

The government recently announced what ex-servicemen call a 'diluted version' of the One Rank One Pension scheme, WION's Dharvi Vaid reports

The killing of a militant commander by the Indian Army in Jammu and Kashmir four months ago led to a curfew in the Valley and a spurt of hatred towards the Indian armed forces in the region. The violence that ensued once again put to fore the “Kashmir issue”, India’s bone of contention with Pakistan. The attack by militants on an army base in the region’s Uri sector resulted in a scaled-up cross-border shelling, leading to Indian Army's “surgical strikes” in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. The sentiment against the Indian defence and armed forces was cast aside by a sudden “patriotic” fervour in their support. But while the nation was busy judging patriotism based on whether one backed the move by the Indian Army or was against it, and hailed the personnel killed in Uri as “martyrs” and “bravehearts”, the recent suicide of an ex-army soldier over the demand for One Rank One Pension (OROP) has yet again fuelled the love-hate relationship India has with its forces. What is One Rank One Pension? Last year, army veterans took to the streets, organised massive protests and hunger strikes in the national capital. They were calling for One Rank One Pension. Simply put, they demanded the same pension for the same rank and the same length of service. Major General (retd) Satbir Singh, who was among those spearheading the protests, explains: “Look at it this way. A colonel retiring in 1980s draws lesser pension than one retiring in 2014. Both have retired on the same rank and have served for the same number of years. The only difference is the latter has seen several pay reviews.” Following the protests, the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the One Rank One Pension scheme on September 6, 2015 but the ex-serviceman said that it did not address their concerns and called it a “diluted” version. Close to 2,000 medals were collected in a “Medal Wapsi” drive and given to the collector’s office in the national capital on the 149th day of protest. The OROP was implemented after 40 years, yet protests continue. In a statement given last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the first installment of Rs 5,500 ($82) was paid towards OROP. So why are the ex-servicemen still unhappy? “What has been implemented is not the actual OROP. It is at best an enhancement of the pension system. It is one rank five pensions and not one pension. The anomalies still hold; senior personnel will get lesser pension than their juniors. This kind of a system is legally wrong, unfair and constitutionally unacceptable. It’s authoritarian,” says Singh. The government said that the scheme is effective July 1, 2014, with 2013 as the base year, but ex-servicemen demand OROP from April 1, 2014 and 2015 as the base year. The government called for a review every five years, but the veterans demand an annual review. However, what has angered veterans the most is the proposal by the government to keep those who took “voluntary retirement” out of the scheme. “A good 40 per cent of our serviceman retire early because the army demands a young force. Other countries like the US, Ukraine have acts for the defence services where the post-retirement needs of soldiers are taken care of. In India, most of those who join the army are from the villages. They get deployed for about 23 to 25 years and then are sent back to fend for themselves. They start farming or become security guards. If this is not arrogance and apathy towards the Indian soldier, what is it? We don’t protest for money but for justice and respect,” says Singh. A serving Indian Air Force officer, not wanting to be named, says that the "political mileage parties try to gain” and “the government’s favouritism to bureaucracy” is the reason behind the skewed pension system. “Much politics has been done around OROP. Sonia Gandhi favoured the demand but it was not implemented in the 12 years her party was in power. Same is with Narendra Modi, who promised OROP when he was campaigning to be prime minister. But under his government veterans were on the streets, demanding their rights. Everyone wants to keep bureaucrats thriving and defence under their thumb,” he says referring to the 1973 decision to increase the pension of civilian government employees from 33 per cent to 50 per cent and decrease that of the armed forces from 70 per cent to 50 per cent of the last pay drawn. There are other armed forces too The demand for OROP has also been raised by the paramilitary forces. But unlike India's army, navy and air force, these forces that include the Central Reserve Police force (CRPF), the Border Security Force (BSF) the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force(CISF) and the Seema Suraksha Bal (SSB) were denied pension from 2004 and get a contributory pension instead. There are over 1,300,000 paramiltary personnel embroiled in a larger debate. The government fails to recognise them as “armed force” and calls them “armed police forces”, and thus they do not receive several post-retirement benefits that the defence forces receive. There is also refusal to list these forces under the group of “organised forces”, a case set to be heard in India's Supreme Court in January 2017. “We were always referred to as the paramilitary forces. The change in nomenclature done by the previous home minister P Chidambaram by passing an overnight rule is unconstitutional. As per article 246 of the Indian Constitution, our genesis is the same as that of the defence forces. The individual acts of paramilitary forces also prove our armed forces status. These are all acts in the constitution and a rule cannot surpass an act. The police is state subject and we are listed under the union,” says inspector-general (retd) of CRPF and chairman of National Coordination Committee of Ex-Central Paramilitary Forces Personnel Welfare Association, VPS Panwar. The paramilitary forces do not receive special pensions like the Military Service Pay given to the army for conditions serving in adverse conditions. “The BSF and ITBP are deployed in border areas with army cut-off from family and a social life in difficult terrain but while the army has perks of a military service pay, BSF and ITBP don’t,” says Panwar. According to data provided by the National Coordination Committee of Ex-Central Paramilitary Forces Personnel Welfare Association, from the year 2009 to 2014, a total of 6,342 personnel have died in deaths attributable to working conditions, which includes 447 cases of suicide and 57 killed in cases of fratricide. Though they have their own cadre, these forces are headed by Indian Police Services (IPS) officers. Many ex-paramilitary personnel say that the IPS officers fail to project the grievances of the forces they command and cite bureaucratic intervention as a problem. According to data, in the last decade, 940 paramilitary personnel have been killed in action while 7,475 have received severe injuries. “The central paramilitary forces should be granted the status and benefits of ex-servicemen, martyrs and war widows, which is currently denied. We fight the enemy from within and on borders, our call of duty should not be overlooked.” says Panwar. (WION)

Pension for Indian armed forces: The politics and bureaucracy

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday wrote a letter to&nbsp;Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to address the grievances of the defence forces concerning their pay&nbsp;and to reverse the recent decisions of the government regarding the disability pension that has &quot;adversely&quot; affected the &quot;morale of our armed forces&quot;.

&quot;Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes, the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability,&quot; the Congress leader wrote in his letter. He was referring to a recommendation by the defence ministry for implementing the 7th Pay Commission&#39;s slab based system for determining pensions as against the current percentage-based method.&nbsp;

Defence personnel are opposed to the slab system, which determines pension on the basis of a three fixed rates&nbsp;rather than on the basis of percentage of pay. The pay commission also steeply slashed the pension rates across all ranks. These have led to a discrepancy in the pension between a defence personnel and his civilian counterpart.

The Congress vice president also urged PM Modi to implement the &quot;One Rank, One Pension&quot;&nbsp;(OROP) scheme, which calls for parity in pension for defence personnel holding the same rank, for same length of service, irrespective of the year they&nbsp;retired. OROP was accepted by the government in 2014, but has not been fully implemented so far.

&quot;OROP must be implemented in a meaningful way to satisfy ex-servicemen, and the anomalies in the 7th Pay Commission must be addressed at the earliest, because soldiers should not have to struggle to claim what is surely due to them on behalf of a grateful nation,&quot; Gandhi&nbsp;said.

Steps should be taken to send a message to soldiers on Diwali expressing &quot;our gratitude both in words and in deed&quot;, Rahul said in his letter to the PM. Modi&nbsp;launched a &nbsp;&quot;#Sandesh2Soldiers&quot;&nbsp;campaign, through which people can send their Diwali greetings and messages to soldiers guarding the nation&#39;s borders. People can send messages&nbsp;on the Narendra Modi App, through MyGov.in, and also through All India Radio.&nbsp; 
 
&quot;As a responsible democracy we must make sure that the brave soldiers who put their lives on the line for each one of us, feel the love, support and gratitude of 125 crore people,&quot; Rahul said.&nbsp;

The Congress scion says the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, which came into effect, from January 1, 2016, continue to keep the defence forces at a disadvantage, further exacerbating the disparity between them and civil employees.&nbsp;

The 7th Pay Commission has recommended a similar pay structure at the entry level for both civilian and military services, which is not acceptable to the armed forces.&nbsp;

&quot;I therefore urge you Prime Minister to ensure that our soldiers get their due&nbsp;whether it is regarding compensation, disability pension, or parity with civil employees,&quot; he said.

PM Modi had earlier accused the Congress of not taking the OROP issue seriously by earmarking a mere Rs 500 crore for the scheme.

He will celebrate this Diwali with personnel of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) at a remote border post in the state of Uttarakhand, PTI reported.

&nbsp;

Don&#39;t subject army to &#39;petty politics&#39;: Government to Rahul

The government on Saturday dismissed Rahul Gandhi&#39;s accusations about the One Rank One Pay (OROP) and the disability pension, with Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asking him not to subject the army to &quot;petty politics for partisan gains&quot;.

Prasad said equivalence has been in force since 1998-99 and &quot;no new policy initiative undertaken taken by the Narendra Modi government in this regard&quot;.

He said that as far as pension payment on slab system is concerned, it was a recommendation of the Pay Review Committee which the government had not accepted and the percentage system of calculating pension would continue till the anomaly commitee gave its recommendations.

&quot;The government has referred this issue to the anomaly committee. Till the time the anomaly committee gives a recommendation, the payment of pension on percentage basis shall continue,&quot; Prasad said.

&nbsp;

Government reverses recommendation on disability pension

The same day that Rahul Gandhi shot off his letter to PM Modi, the defence ministry said armed forces personnel would continue to get such pension based on percentage system till the Anomaly Committee came out with its report, PTI reported.

A letter issued by the ministry on September 30, introducing the slab-based system recommended by the 7th Pay Commission, was widely criticised by opposition parties and the military.

Following this, the Ministry had referred the matter to the Anomaly Committee. A percentage-based system for calculating disability pension for both defence personnel as well as civilians has been followed as per &nbsp;the 6th Pay Commission recommendations.

(WION with inputs from PTI)

The Congress vice president wrote to Narendra Modi asking him to take measures to ensure that Indian soldiers remain economically secure

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Saturday wrote a letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to address the grievances of the defence forces concerning their pay and to reverse the recent decisions of the government regarding the disability pension that has "adversely" affected the "morale of our armed forces". "Just days after our soldiers conducted the surgical strikes, the disability pension system was converted to a new slab system, that in many instances drastically reduces the pension received by these brave men in case of a disability," the Congress leader wrote in his letter. He was referring to a recommendation by the defence ministry for implementing the 7th Pay Commission's slab based system for determining pensions as against the current percentage-based method. Defence personnel are opposed to the slab system, which determines pension on the basis of a three fixed rates rather than on the basis of percentage of pay. The pay commission also steeply slashed the pension rates across all ranks. These have led to a discrepancy in the pension between a defence personnel and his civilian counterpart. The Congress vice president also urged PM Modi to implement the "One Rank, One Pension" (OROP) scheme, which calls for parity in pension for defence personnel holding the same rank, for same length of service, irrespective of the year they retired. OROP was accepted by the government in 2014, but has not been fully implemented so far. "OROP must be implemented in a meaningful way to satisfy ex-servicemen, and the anomalies in the 7th Pay Commission must be addressed at the earliest, because soldiers should not have to struggle to claim what is surely due to them on behalf of a grateful nation," Gandhi said. Steps should be taken to send a message to soldiers on Diwali expressing "our gratitude both in words and in deed", Rahul said in his letter to the PM. Modi launched a "#Sandesh2Soldiers" campaign, through which people can send their Diwali greetings and messages to soldiers guarding the nation's borders. People can send messages on the Narendra Modi App, through MyGov.in, and also through All India Radio. "As a responsible democracy we must make sure that the brave soldiers who put their lives on the line for each one of us, feel the love, support and gratitude of 125 crore people," Rahul said. The Congress scion says the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, which came into effect, from January 1, 2016, continue to keep the defence forces at a disadvantage, further exacerbating the disparity between them and civil employees. The 7th Pay Commission has recommended a similar pay structure at the entry level for both civilian and military services, which is not acceptable to the armed forces. "I therefore urge you Prime Minister to ensure that our soldiers get their due whether it is regarding compensation, disability pension, or parity with civil employees," he said. PM Modi had earlier accused the Congress of not taking the OROP issue seriously by earmarking a mere Rs 500 crore for the scheme. He will celebrate this Diwali with personnel of the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) at a remote border post in the state of Uttarakhand, PTI reported. Don't subject army to 'petty politics': Government to Rahul The government on Saturday dismissed Rahul Gandhi's accusations about the One Rank One Pay (OROP) and the disability pension, with Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad asking him not to subject the army to "petty politics for partisan gains". Prasad said equivalence has been in force since 1998-99 and "no new policy initiative undertaken taken by the Narendra Modi government in this regard". He said that as far as pension payment on slab system is concerned, it was a recommendation of the Pay Review Committee which the government had not accepted and the percentage system of calculating pension would continue till the anomaly commitee gave its recommendations. "The government has referred this issue to the anomaly committee. Till the time the anomaly committee gives a recommendation, the payment of pension on percentage basis shall continue," Prasad said. Government reverses recommendation on disability pension The same day that Rahul Gandhi shot off his letter to PM Modi, the defence ministry said armed forces personnel would continue to get such pension based on percentage system till the Anomaly Committee came out with its report, PTI reported. A letter issued by the ministry on September 30, introducing the slab-based system recommended by the 7th Pay Commission, was widely criticised by opposition parties and the military. Following this, the Ministry had referred the matter to the Anomaly Committee. A percentage-based system for calculating disability pension for both defence personnel as well as civilians has been followed as per the 6th Pay Commission recommendations. (WION with inputs from PTI)

Rahul Gandhi's Diwali wish for Indian PM Modi: Implement 'one rank, one pension' scheme for Army